A judge in a federal lawsuit filed against Syracuse University by nine students involved in the Theta Tau videos on Monday denied a motion filed by lawyers of the university to require the students be publicly named in court documents.

Five students involved in last spring’s controversial Theta Tau videos anonymously sued SU in April, claiming the university labeled them as “criminals,” according to court documents. Four more students joined the suit over the summer. The students are requesting $1 million in damages each and that their disciplinary records be wiped clean, according to court documents.

The students are currently suing SU under the pseudonyms John Doe #1 to #9. Lawyers of the university filed a motion to publicly name the students in court documents in July. The motion was denied by Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge David Peebles.

Lawyers for the students argued that the case involved highly sensitive and personal information and that if their names were tied to the controversy it would affect their future opportunities in the professional world. The university said in the motion that the students’ identities were already public and that embarrassment is not a sufficient reason to remain anonymous.

“I conclude that the overriding concerns associated with requiring plaintiffs to divulge their identities, as discussed above, weigh against granting defendants’ motion to require plaintiffs to reveal their identities and therefore trump the public’s presumptive right of access,” Peebles said in court documents.

The Theta Tau videos, released last spring, led to the permanent expulsion of Theta Tau from SU and a months-long student conduct investigation.

SU suspended more than a dozen students in connection to the controversial videos, which showed people in the Theta Tau house using racial and ethnic slurs and miming the sexual assault of a person with disabilities. The fraternity, in a statement at the time, called the videos a “satirical sketch.”

Ten students involved in the Theta Tau videos filed a second lawsuit against the university in Jefferson County Supreme Court in August. Students in the state lawsuit are requesting the university wipe their disciplinary records clean, but are not requesting $1 million in damages each.

The students in both suits are being represented by Kevin Hulslander, Karen Felter and David Katz, attorneys at the Syracuse-based branch of the Smith, Sovik, Kendrick and Sugnet law firm.

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Published on September 11, 2018 at 11:25 pm

Contact Catherine: ccleffer@syr.edu | @ccleffert